Now Alsi the king sat staring at him, still as a carven image, with his hand halfway to his mouth, as he raised his horn from the table; and Ragnar looked wide-eyed, for he knew him again, and I saw a little smile curl the corners of his lips and pass; and then Havelok was at the step of the high place, and there he gave the salute of the courtmen of a Danish king, heeding Berthun, who tried to make him do reverence, not at all.

Now a spark from my torch drew my eyes from him, lest it should fall on the princess’s robe; and when it went out, I saw that the fair hand that rested on the arm of the great chair was shaking like a leaf.  When I looked, her face was white and troubled, and she half rose from her seat and then sank back in it gently, and the thane who sat next her spoke anxiously to her in a low voice, and the lady by his side rose up and came to her.

Then Alsi turned, and he too spoke, asking if aught was amiss.

“The princess faints with the heat of the hall,” said the thane’s wife.  “She yet feels the long journey.  May she not go hence?”

Then Goldberga said bravely, “It is naught, and it will pass.”

But they made her rise and leave the hall; and the guests stood up as she went with her ladies round her, and many were the murmurs of pity that I heard.

“As though she had seen a ghost, so white is she,” one whispered.

But none knew how much the lady was to be pitied.  She had seen the man of her vision; and, lo! for all that she knew, he was a thrall who toiled in the palace kitchens.

And after her, as she withdrew, looked Havelok with eyes in which there was more than pity.  I could see him well, but I did not know how he had seen the fair princess tremble and grow white as she gazed on him.  I know that, as he saw her for this first time, it was with the wish that he were in Ragnar’s place.  But I thought that if Havelok were king, here was the queen for him.

Now Alsi bade the feast go on, and be spoke a few words only to Havelok, letting him go at once, and I was glad.  This sudden faintness of the princess had put all out somewhat, and none cared to take up a jest where it had stayed.  Nevertheless, I saw the king’s eyes follow my brother down the hall, and in them was a new and strange look that was not pleasant at all.

Then it seemed that one was staring at me, and as will happen, I must look in a certain place; and there was Cadwal, the Welsh thane, halfway down one of the long tables, glaring first at me, and then at Havelok, as he went.  It came into my mind that he would be wroth with Ragnar for bringing a kitchen knave as his second, as it were, in derision of Griffin.  I thought that I would find a chance presently to tell him why my fellow second chose to be serving thus, and so make things right with him, for this seemed to be due to Ragnar, if not to all concerned.

Not long after Goldberga had gone, the king withdrew also, and then the hall grew noisy enough, and I could leave my place.  But by that time Cadwal had left also; and next day, when I sought him, both he and Griffin were no longer in Lincoln, none knowing whither they had gone.  So I troubled no more about them.